Recognize 日 in everyday Japanese, learn its meanings (day and sun) and read it as part of complete words.

The idea

A kanji can have Japanese-origin readings (kun) and readings borrowed through Chinese (on); learn each reading with its word. Compare 日（ひ） and 毎日（まいにち） in the table. 日 has 4 strokes; follow their order in the linked KanjiVG diagram.

Patterns to compare
Japanese wordReadingMeaning
日ひsun; day
毎日まいにちevery day
今日きょうtoday
日本にほんJapan

Examples

  • 今日きょうは日曜日にちようびです。Today is Sunday.
  • 毎日まいにち日本語にほんごを勉強べんきょうします。I study Japanese every day.
  • 明日あしたは雨あめです。It will rain tomorrow.
  • 三日みっかに会あいましょうね。Let’s meet on the third, all right?
  • 日ひは東ひがしから昇のぼります。The sun rises in the east.
  • 一日いちにちはとても長ながいです。A day is very long.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

今日 is read きょう as a whole; do not guess it from 日. Compare 日, with one inner horizontal, and 目, with two.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 毎日 in hiragana.

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    まいにち

    毎日 is read まいにち; the whole expression means every day. In this word 日 is read にち.

  2. Write the reading of 今日 in hiragana.

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    きょう

    今日 is read きょう; the whole expression means today. This is a conventional reading of the whole word; it cannot be predicted from the characters one by one.

  3. Fill in the missing kanji: ＿本（にほん）.

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    日

    日 completes 日本, which is read にほん. The completed expression means Japan.

Use it today

Cover the table, write 日 from memory, and read 日 and 毎日 aloud. Then check both readings and meanings.